Nooba (Ibis Hotel, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon)

An eatery with an intent to serve authentic Chinese cuisine, serves some good to great food, good staff & smart interiors.

nooba

Address & other details: Nooba

Meal for 2: Rs. 1000 onwards

Cuisine type : vegetarian & nonvegetarian

Disclaimer:All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

bill – proof of payment

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short Description – in case u r in a hurry:

As we sat we were given a menu card which was essentially the table mat & on it there were options to choose from different kinds of bowls / combos etc. dimsums, rice bowl, noodle combos etc. So we checked whether there is anything else other than that & that is when they said they have an a la carte menu. This was not normally offered to us – we had to ask for it.

table mat cum menu card

Once we started going thru the a la carte menu we found a few things that ‘screamed out for attention’. The fish page had seabass & basa items written but in reality they had stock of basa only. Good that the server clarified – else we wud have been happily ordering sea bass and wud have got basa instead.

A la carte hard bound menu card – beautifully designed

If someone is trying to be a true authentic chinese restaurant they have to go beyond a single fish for their menu. That also a fish that is flat to taste & does not really have much to offer.

billboard outside restaurant

The server was constantly telling us that portions r big. So we decided to order a bunch of them, taste all of those & pack the balance. Good to give big portions in general for most people – not so great for crazy foodies like us who wud rather taste more options. Maybe they can serve half plate / quarter plate etc. like most Mughalai restaurants do.

the entrance

Being a chinese restaurant they also lacked the basic thing – sticky rice. We had to settle for basmati rice instead.

nice design in the dining hall

The interiors of the restaurant was very nice. Lots of wood & glass.

The dining hall

There was an open kitchen.

The serving staff were polite and helpful.

Food was good in general but mostly short of great.

The good thing about this restaurant is that one can redeem American express card points here & can save 15% on their food bill at Nooba when paying with their American express card. My friend found that to b of great help.

Detailed Description – In case u have the Time to NJOY reading:

We started our dinner with Pork cucumber soup. It had a clear broth very unlike chinjabi soups. It was very close to the real chinese.

Pork cucumber soup

Original ones much more intense as they r made from meat stock. The flavors r much more surprises in original one as they use herbs and sauces maybe bcoz it was toned down keeping Indian guests in mind.

Cucumber was crunchy, pork pieces were extremely soft, to the extent of being surprising. The intensity of ‘porkyness’ of the soup was less. There wasa light effect of raw shredded ginger which

Pork cucumber soup

Nice overall feel. 3.5/5

Prawn brocolli white garlic sounded interesting and hence we ordered it. The prawns had a thin coating of corn starch – lower than most other places in Gurgaon. In China I have never come across any such treatment. The prawns tasted good though I like them the original Chinese way – uncoated. The garlic made its presence felt.

Prawn brocolli white garlic

Brocolli was nice to munch on – it was suboptimally crunchy though.

Prawn brocolli white garlic

Overall I wud say the dish was good. Rate it 3/5.

The third dish we ordered was Tenderloin Hot pot. It was hotter than I cud have wildly imagined. It was so hot that I cud feel drops of sweat on my forehead on a chilly Gurgaon winter night. The color of the soup was bright red. I remembered one such meal at Quanzhou – another evening when I had dipped my spoon into a dish from the Sichuan province.

Tenderloin Hot pot – the way it was served

The dish was not only hot but also had a pungent (enjoyable) flavor. The soup was somewhat thick. Veggies in it were sub optimally crunchy not due to over cooking but due to the sheer heat of the liquid in the bowl.

Tenderloin Hot pot close up

The tenderloin pieces were as tender as they cud get. Flavor of the meat had flown into the soup as well. Super loved this dish & rate it 4.25/5

Tenderloin Hot pot – close up of the ingredients

For dessert we had Chocolate roulade. This turned out to b the best dish of the evening. It was way beyond expectations. The chocolate was thick, rich, dark & warm. The ice cream was nice as well. Rate it 4.75/5

2 comments

Hi Yummraj, Nooba is one of my favorite hangout place for authentic Chinese, I got to know abt the place through a Chinese colleague of mine. Do try Fish Vinegar and Tenderloin schezwan. Always order from their oriental menu which they share upon asking. Try the one at DLF Cybercity..